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Friday, December 28, 2007
A great video to get you in the mood for 2008
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before one looks forward, it’s best to always look back with learned eyes and a healthy sense of what it means to lip lock with your special someone at special moments.
Therefore, let me present to you the best of the Times Square ball drop as 2006 progressed into 2007. Besides, who doesn’t like to hear Sinatra singing that great testament to New York on such an occasion?
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From me to thee, a year-end gift only I can bestow
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dear Readers (indeed, good friend, the salutation applies to you),
Today is the final Friday of 2007, which means the final column of the year, which means I am certainly vacationing, which means it is once again time for me to reach into the magic vault and present the Best of Ask Alan Smithee for the year.
Traditional gifting has been temporarily suspended because these letter writers have already received valuable T-shirts and such.
From 7-20-07
Dear Mr. Smithee,
Why is a movie’s popularity based on receipts instead of tickets sold? I know movies are all about money, but listing the number of tickets sold would make comparing the most popular movies from year to year much easier, without having to adjust for inflation.
JEFFREY FREEMAN, Alpharetta
Dear Right You Are,
Your logic is astounding, my son. And quite sound. The best way to judge the popularity of every movie would be to count the number of actual tickets sold.
Here’s why it will never happen:
Reason 1: Hollywood executives are the only individuals on the whole planet whose egos depend solely on overstating the worth of the pure, smelly rubbish they dump into the public fray every week. And, trust me, execs are a needy bunch.
Reason 2: Your practice would certainly mean that movies like “Gone With the Wind” and “Birth of a Nation” would be considered the top films in American cinematic history.
Clearly, the studio execs involved with those films are no longer with us, thereby rendering them unable to thump their massively important chests at their studio competitors, which in turn would unhinge the very reason Hollywood exists.
Reason 3: Hollywood is not here to make movies and be fair. It exists for the sole purpose of allowing the powerful to belittle the less powerful.
Reason 4: Doing things your way, Jeff, would expose the fact that Hollywood doesn’t sell nearly as many tickets as it did, say, in the 1940s, an era when billions and billions of tickets were sold each year because there was no prevalence of a little thing called television.
And really, Jeff, you live in America. Have you not figured out yet that the goal of red-blooded democracy is commerce?
Get off the facts, my son, and climb aboard “Titanic.”
Don’t you want to be like James Cameron at the Oscars and shout out, “I’m king of the world!” — no matter how asinine you might appear doing so?
ALAN
From 7-20-07
Dear Mr. Smithee,
Re: Your recent column on the Oscars and women directors. Am I wrong that Barbra Streisand directed herself in “Yentl”? If she did, don’t you think you forgot about her??? Don’t you think she was deserving?
GERRY AND JACK BARNICK, Boynton Beach, Fla.
Dear Don’t Rain on My Parade,
Of course the esteemed and wonderful Ms. Streisand directed “Yentl.”
Unfortunately, she also included in said film a scene quite reminiscent of the massively cinematic tugboat ride in “Funny Girl,” which, though she starred in it, she did not direct because William Wyler did.
She also directed “The Prince of Tides” and somehow decided it was appropriate to turn the focus on her character even though the book was about, uh, Nick Nolte’s character.
She directed “The Mirror Has Two Faces.”
And we’ll let that last sentence just stand by itself without embellishment.
Trust me, I did not forget Barbra. Who could?
Was she deserving?
No.
ALAN
From 3-16-2007
Dear Mr. Smithee,
There seems to be some sort of cult following for the 1980 movie “Caddyshack.” It was one of the most stupid, banal and childish pieces of junk I have ever seen.
W.S. CLEMENT, Lake Worth, Fla.
Dear Be the Ball,
Is it possible that “Caddyshack” is stupid, banal and childish? Well, of course it is.
Therein lies its charm, its brilliance, its utter perfection.
Go ask Tiger Woods. He’s one of the many in the film’s “some sort of cult following.”
ALAN
HAVE A QUESTION FOR MR. SMITHEE?
E-mail him at alansmithee@ajc.com or go to accessAtlanta.com and click on Movies. Please include your name, city and daytime phone number. Mr. Smithee can’t reply to every request, but inquiries chosen for publication will receive movie-related prizes.
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The Top 10 of 2007 … and more
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A violent, nerve-wracking Coen brothers drama, the pounding conclusion to the “Bourne” trilogy, and a cute, computer-animated rat stoke my list for the best movies of the year.
TOP 10 OF 2007
1. “No Country for Old Men” — A haunting, vibrant, violent drama in the best tradition of the Coen brothers. Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin are good. Javier Bardem is amazing. And the dog … you gotta see the dog.
2. “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” — A challenging, enthralling French film about a real-life magazine editor who, after a massive stroke, is paralyzed everywhere except in his left eye. I know, it sounds unwatchable. But it’s as mesmerizing as it is devastating.
3. “Atonement” — Director Joe Wright has followed one good English drama (“Pride & Prejudice”) with a great English drama. Based on Ian McEwan’s World War II era novel, “Atonement” throbs with the pangs of love found and lost. Plus, young supporting star Saoirse Ronan is the find of the year.
4. “There Will Be Blood” — Daniel Day-Lewis barrels through director Paul Thomas Anderson’s turn-of-the-20th century drama, eating up everyone in sight with an oil baron character so finely realized there’s no doubt he deserves Oscar’s top acting prize. (Expected to arrive in metro Atlanta on Jan. 11).
5. “The Bourne Ultimatum” — Director Paul Greengrass’ you-are-there approach elevates this third installment in the fine action spy trilogy to must-see status. And star Matt Damon does more with few words than just about anybody.
6. “Knocked Up” — There was nothing funnier in 2007, nothing more in tune with modern young-adult sensibilities, and nothing that gave as much hope in the midst of an unwanted pregnancy.
7. “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” — A prime example of an insensitive studio — namely Warner Bros. — gutting the chances of its own, remarkable drama because the movie’s artistry is a tough sell to mainstream audiences. The film may be long, but it earns every second. And Casey Affleck’s performance is genius.
8. “Lars and the Real Girl” — You may not think you want to see a movie about a grown man and his life-size female doll but it’s a near-perfect fable sold on light-hearted charm and the ever-amazing acting talent of Ryan Gosling.
9. “Gone Baby Gone” — Maybe Ben Affleck can’t act, but he can sure direct as he proves with this gripping tale of child abduction in the mean streets of Boston. Brother Casey Affleck makes a suitable lead, and supporting star Amy Ryan delivers the film’s performance payoff.
10. “Ratatouille” — It’s not just a happy, watchable computer-animated film with a rat from Pixar. It contains perhaps the supreme moment on film for 2007 —- the sense memory that erupts when uppity food critic Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O’Toole) tastes the title dish.
FILMS OF SUPERIOR MERIT:
“Killer of Sheep” — Charles Burnett’s neo-realistic masterpiece of African-American life in Los Angeles dates from the 1970s, but didn’t get a wide release until this year.
“The Lives of Others” — Though it was released in Los Angeles in 2006 and won this year’s Oscar for best foreign-language film, it didn’t play in New York or Atlanta until well into 2007.
Runners-up (in order): “Away From Her,” “The Orphanage” (expected in metro Atlanta on Jan. 11), “Michael Clayton,” “Juno,” “Margot at the Wedding,” “The Boss of it All,” “No End in Sight,” “28 Weeks Later,” “My Kid Could Paint That,” “Into the Wild,” “Starting Out in the Evening,” “Once,” “The Host,” “The Golden Door,” “Talk to Me,” “American Gangster,” “Eastern Promises,” “Darius Goes West: The Roll of His Life,” “Sicko,” “Disturbia.”
Major disappointments (in order of travesty): “The Darjeeling Limited,” “The Ten,” “Youth After Youth,” “The Kite Runner,” “Sleuth,” “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium,” “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” “Rendition,” “The Invasion,” “El Cantante.”
BEST ACTOR
1. Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood.”
2. Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of Elah.”
3. Don Cheadle, “Talk to Me.”
4. Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises.”
5. Ryan Gosling, “Lars and the Real Girl.”
6. George Clooney, “Michael Clayton.”
7. Emile Hirsch, “Into the Wild.”
8. Frank Langella, “Starting Out in the Evening.”
9. Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Savages.”
10. Denzel Washington, “American Gangster.”
BEST ACTRESS
1. Marion Cotillard, “La Vie En Rose.”
2. Julie Christie, “Away From Her.”
3. Ellen Page, “Juno.”
4. Laura Linney, “The Savages.”
5. Keira Knightley, “Atonement.”
6. Nicole Kidman, “Margot at the Wedding.”
7. Katharine Heigl, “Knocked Up.”
8. Angelina Jolie, “A Mighty Heart.”
9. Charlize Theron, “In the Valley of Elah.”
10. Amy Adams, “Enchanted.”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”
2. Robert Downey Jr., “Zodiac.”
3. Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton.”
4. Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men.”
5. Paul Dano, “There Will Be Blood.”
6. Ethan Hawke, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.”
7. Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War.”
8. Chiwetel Ejiofor, “Talk to Me.”
9. Tommy Lee Jones, “No Country for Old Men.”
10. Ed Harris, “Gone Baby Gone.”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone.”
2. Imelda Staunton, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”
3. Taraji P. Henson, “Talk to Me.”
4. Jennifer Jason Leigh, “Margot at the Wedding.”
5. Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement.”
6. Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton.”
7. Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There.”
8. Susan Sarandon, “In the Valley of Elah.”
9. Olympia Dukakis, “Away From Her.”
10. Lilli Taylor, “Starting Out in the Evening.”
BEST DIRECTOR
1. Sarah Polley, “Away From Her.”
2. Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.”
3. Joel and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men.”
4. Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood.”
5. Joe Wright, “Atonement.”
6. Ben Affleck, “Gone Baby Gone.”
7. Andrew Dominik, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”
8. Juan Antonio Bayona, “The Orphanage.”
9. Judd Apatow, “Knocked Up.”
10. Paul Greengrass, “The Bourne Ultimatum.”
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